T23 BIOS update as bootable CD ?

[Esben]

Dear fellow thinkpad users,

I'm trying to help a friend with installing Windows XP on T23. It had a old corporate install of NT 4.0 on it before, so I formatted the drive, when trying to install XP. It's unfortunately equipped with the oldest BIOS 1.01, which I suppose that's the cause of Windows XP not installing properly.

I no longer have a Windows install to run the default IBM BIOS update, and I've no computers with floppy drives. Reading the ThinkWiki, you can create a bootable ISO from the diskette version of the BIOS update utility. But doing so requires a computer with Linux, as the utility is written for Linux. I've tried installing it on my Solaris computers at my university, but it failed.

Is there someone out there who's made a bootable ISO with a recent BIOS update for the T23, and who's willing to share it?

Best regards,
Esben Barnkob
Copenhagen, Denmark

[nikki605]

Don't forget that the latest BIOS version (1.20) requires the latest version (1.06a) of the embedded controller.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 39366.html

[Esben]

Good point, thanks for mentioning. I've decided to make a temporary Windows 2000 install, hope it goes well. Then I assume both the BIOS and embedded controller updates can be installed from within Windows.

[Kaervak]

Good point, thanks for mentioning. I've decided to make a temporary Windows 2000 install, hope it goes well. Then I assume both the BIOS and embedded controller updates can be installed from within Windows.

Never tried the non diskette installs myself but they should work. Regardless, I'll have bootable ISO's of the BIOS and Embedded Controller updates in a few minutes.

Edit:
Latest BIOS & Embedded Controller updates:
http://rapidshare.com/files/278165056/updates.zip.html

[nikki605]

Good point, thanks for mentioning. I've decided to make a temporary Windows 2000 install, hope it goes well. Then I assume both the BIOS and embedded controller updates can be installed from within Windows.

Also remember, according to the IBM web page link I posted, "- If you need to update Embedded Controller Program as well as the BIOS, update the BIOS first."

[emeraldgirl08]

@ Kaervak.

Did you make those bootable ISO's on your own??? I really really need one for my R52 and R51e laptops.

W7 allowed me to do the BIOS update but won't do the Embedded Controller. My laptop is still functional (TG) but I'd rather have the updated EC as well. Both my laptops do not have XP and I don't have a set of Recovery discs for either so a bootable form is needed.

Floppy disks I do not have access to. The only floppy disk drive I have is for an Ultrabay 2000.

If you are able to could you tell me or give me a link to explain how to make an ISO for the BIOS and EC???

TIA.

[Kaervak]

@ Kaervak.

Did you make those bootable ISO's on your own??? I really really need one for my R52 and R51e laptops.

W7 allowed me to do the BIOS update but won't do the Embedded Controller. My laptop is still functional (TG) but I'd rather have the updated EC as well. Both my laptops do not have XP and I don't have a set of Recovery discs for either so a bootable form is needed.

Floppy disks I do not have access to. The only floppy disk drive I have is for an Ultrabay 2000.

If you are able to could you tell me or give me a link to explain how to make an ISO for the BIOS and EC???

TIA.

I'll make a couple iso for you. http://rapidshare.com/files/278261361/RUpdates.zip.html

I'm a linux user and I also have a virtualized install of windows xp. I make a floppy image with DD (dd bs=512 count=2880 if=/dev/zero of=bootfloppy.img) then use my XP install to write the bios update to it's floppy drive then take the floppy image that it's written to and use mkisofs (mkisofs -b bootfloppy.img -o bootcd.iso bootfloppy.img) to convert it to a bootable iso. It takes me about three or four minutes per update.

[emeraldgirl08]

@esben

Thanks for bringing this up! This really helped me out

@ Kaervak



I am in awe of your expertise sir. Thank you!

Edit:

It worked

[RealBlackStuff]

@Kaervak

Since you are doing such a stellar job with these ISOs, could you please make one for the forum?
In this thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=80127 I have put a link to the HMD diskette loader.
Could you please make an ISO out of that HMD and post the link in that same thread?
Thanks a million.

[Kaervak]

@Kaervak

Since you are doing such a stellar job with these ISOs, could you please make one for the forum?
In this thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=80127 I have put a link to the HMD diskette loader.
Could you please make an ISO out of that HMD and post the link in that same thread?
Thanks a million.

Sure thing, I'll have it up in a bit.

[rkawakami]

One thing to watch out for is that if the floppy-based program, be it the BIOS, the EC updater and any other software, requires/assumes that it is running off of writable media, then the CD-based image may not work correctly.

[Harryc]

I'm a linux user and I also have a virtualized install of windows xp. I make a floppy image with DD (dd bs=512 count=2880 if=/dev/zero of=bootfloppy.img) then use my XP install to write the bios update to it's floppy drive then take the floppy image that it's written to and use mkisofs (mkisofs -b bootfloppy.img -o bootcd.iso bootfloppy.img) to convert it to a bootable iso. It takes me about three or four minutes per update.

You have to love Linux. Simple yet elegant.

[rkawakami]

A little OT: What I was trying to figure many months ago is how to convert a multi-floppy set, say like the PC Doctor for DOS program for an X22 (3 floppies), into a single image that I could burn onto a CD. I modified the first autoexec.bat file so that each "floppy" would automatically be loaded without having to "press any key to continue" but got bogged down when it came to making a bootable image out of the whole mess. This is using Nero. My recollection was that I could easily use a single bootable floppy as the boot image but couldn't expand it to encompass more than the 1.44MB of a single floppy. It appeared that the easiest way to work around this would be to take a disk drive and make a small bootable partition, say 5 or 6MB, load the floppy files into there, edit whatever needs to be done in the autoexec.bat/config.sys files and then image this small bootable drive onto the CD. Any thoughts as do how this might be done with Linux?

Now that I think about this, maybe I could use MagicISO to do all of the work... well, another project to put on the list...

[Kaervak]

A little OT: What I was trying to figure many months ago is how to convert a multi-floppy set, say like the PC Doctor for DOS program for an X22 (3 floppies), into a single image that I could burn onto a CD. I modified the first autoexec.bat file so that each "floppy" would automatically be loaded without having to "press any key to continue" but got bogged down when it came to making a bootable image out of the whole mess. This is using Nero. My recollection was that I could easily use a single bootable floppy as the boot image but couldn't expand it to encompass more than the 1.44MB of a single floppy. It appeared that the easiest way to work around this would be to take a disk drive and make a small bootable partition, say 5 or 6MB, load the floppy files into there, edit whatever needs to be done in the autoexec.bat/config.sys files and then image this small bootable drive onto the CD. Any thoughts as do how this might be done with Linux?

Now that I think about this, maybe I could use MagicISO to do all of the work... well, another project to put on the list...

I tried a few things with mkisofs and got a boot CD easily done, however I couldn't tell if it works properly since I don't have an X series to test on. I think it might work since it boots just fine and starts the PC Doctor program. Here's the ISO file, give it a shot and let me know what happens. (Right Click -> Save As) http://home.roadrunner.com/~kaervak/bootcd.iso


Hmm, made a T2x series PC Doctor disk and while it does boot, it then asks for the remaining disks even though they're on the CD. I think what's happening is by using the first bootable PC Doctor disk as the boot image file that's all that gets seen and the remaining files on the CD aren't recognized. If the three image files can be merged into one, then turning it into a bootable CD won't be a problem.

[Kaervak]

You have to love Linux. Simple yet elegant.

Indeed. I find it amusing that the most complex part of the process is using XP in a VM to write out the disk image.

[rkawakami]

Here's the ISO file, give it a shot and let me know what happens. (Right Click -> Save As) http://home.roadrunner.com/~kaervak/bootcd.iso

You owe me a blank CD (shoulda burned it on a CD-RW ). The CD boots, loads the first "floppy" but gets stuck at the second, "Please insert PC-Doctor DOS #91-2 Disk and Press any key to continue . . .". There needs to be some changes made to the autoexec.bat file I'm sure, but this is promising. IIRC, the floppy disks have a particular name assigned to each of them and the autoexec.bat file looks to see if that "disk" is loaded before it continues to load the next "floppy". The .ISO image appears to be about the right size, ~5MB so the disk files should all be there but I just can't get to them.

[Kaervak]

You owe me a blank CD (shoulda burned it on a CD-RW ). The CD boots, loads the first "floppy" but gets stuck at the second, "Please insert PC-Doctor DOS #91-2 Disk and Press any key to continue . . .". There needs to be some changes made to the autoexec.bat file I'm sure, but this is promising. IIRC, the floppy disks have a particular name assigned to each of them and the autoexec.bat file looks to see if that "disk" is loaded before it continues to load the next "floppy". The .ISO image appears to be about the right size, ~5MB so the disk files should all be there but I just can't get to them.

Yep it does need some refinement. I haven't yet found a way to merge existing image files into one, but I think once I figure that out I should be able to get a perfect bootable CD. In the mean time, I can make the three floppies into three CDs, we're getting there.

[rkawakami]

Looked at an A2x PC Doctor disk set (don't know where my X2x set went...). The autoexec.bat file is identical on all three floppies. The check to see which "floppy" is loaded is done by testing for the existence of a certain file (and not on the disk label which I thought it did). Which should work if the files are all in the same directory and that directory has been set "large enough" for the bootable media to find. This was what I ran into before when trying this out; I was only able to make a boot CD recognize 1.44MB worth of data. My understanding is that there's something in the boot sector which says how large the "partition" is. If you are copying the one from the floppy onto the CD, then that could be the problem.

I appreciate all of the work you're doing on this..

[Kaervak]

Looked at an A2x PC Doctor disk set (don't know where my X2x set went...). The autoexec.bat file is identical on all three floppies. The check to see which "floppy" is loaded is done by testing for the existence of a certain file (and not on the disk label which I thought it did). Which should work if the files are all in the same directory and that directory has been set "large enough" for the bootable media to find. This was what I ran into before when trying this out; I was only able to make a boot CD recognize 1.44MB worth of data. My understanding is that there's something in the boot sector which says how large the "partition" is. If you are copying the one from the floppy onto the CD, then that could be the problem.

I appreciate all of the work you're doing on this..

Ok, got a somewhat workable solution going. Used a bootdisk image with CD support. The cd boots just fine to a DOS prompt. After changing directories and running autoexec.bat the PC Doctor program loads normally and then asks for the second disk. Just have to change the autoexec.bat file to look for the proper file and that should be it.

Try this out on a T2x series:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~kaervak/T2x.iso
Change to the R: drive letter and then run autoexec.bat and let me know what happens.

[rkawakami]

Okay... burning disk now.. (CD-RW )

Bunch of "Bad command or file name" messages, then the series of "Press any key to continue" messages, but the program doesn't load. It looks like the RAMDRIVE is not being created, which is in the CONFIG.SYS file.

[Kaervak]

Okay... burning disk now.. (CD-RW )

Bunch of "Bad command or file name" messages, then the series of "Press any key to continue" messages, but the program doesn't load. It looks like the RAMDRIVE is not being created, which is in the CONFIG.SYS file.

Heh, same here. Just unearthed my T23 to experiment. Working on another one with the config.sys changes.

[rkawakami]

Erasing disk, downloading next .ISO... I'm also playing around with MagicISO to see if I can do the same with that program...

Same difference with the T2x1.iso.... The DOS environment gets loaded (without the normal blue screen and PC Doctor menu) as the "a:\" drive. I then go r: and autoexec, which outputs the same error messages as before. Don't know if it means anything, but I think that the "normal" floppy set uses the RAMDISK as the r: drive. The executables actually expand themselves into the RAMDRIVE and PC Doctor runs from there.

Tired to take the boot image from the PC Doctor T2x .ISO that I host and add my own files but that didn't work either. The first "floppy" loaded correctly but then I got ARF errors (Abort, Retry, Fail). The search continues...

[Kaervak]

Erasing disk, downloading next .ISO... I'm also playing around with MagicISO to see if I can do the same with that program...

Hold off on that, caught a syntax error. I'm redoing the ISO now.

Ok: http://home.roadrunner.com/~kaervak/t2xx.iso

[rkawakami]

Erase, download.... burning.. booting... Found files now in a BOOT directory, but executing autoexec.bat still gives me the same errors.... well actually, the "second" floppy is not loading; it keeps repeating the request for the #90-2 disk. Maybe I'm not pressing the correct "any" key .

[Kaervak]

Argh, same thing on the new ISO. It seems the RAMDRIVE isn't getting created. There must be something specific about how the genuine IBM disk sets things up. Just have to find a way to merge the three floppy images into one and that would be all that is needed to create a working boot CD. Just have to tinker a bit more.

[rkawakami]

I'd really like to know the person who created the T2x PC Doctor .ISO did it. The strange thing is that when I mount the CD in Windows, it appears blank. None of the files are visible, even using a "dir/a" command.

[Kaervak]

I'd really like to know the person who created the T2x PC Doctor .ISO did it. The strange thing is that when I mount the CD in Windows, it appears blank. None of the files are visible, even using a "dir/a" command.

Hmm, that's interesting. How big is the ISO? If it's not too huge, mind sending me a copy I'd like to pull a DD copy of it and see what it shows.

[rkawakami]

The T2x PC Doctor image file I host is here: http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/ibm_t22_pcdiag.iso It's just under 4MB.

[Kaervak]

The T2x PC Doctor image file I host is here: http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/ibm_t22_pcdiag.iso It's just under 4MB.

Oooh, that's an interesting ISO. I'm going to have to play around with this one for a bit.

[rkawakami]

Oooh, that's an interesting ISO. I'm going to have to play around with this one for a bit.